Thursday, October 10, 2013

Monday, October 7, 2013

Lake Natron in northern Tanzania is named for a naturally occurring compound made of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. The lake's high levels of natron come from volcanic ash from the Great Rift Valley, and they've given the water a very unusual side effect: Animals that die and are submerged in the lake are completely calcified and preserved. Photographer Nick Brandt documented the lake's terrifying process, taking pictures of birds and bats that have appeared on the lake's shoreline. "I could not help but photograph them," he told New Scientist. "No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake's surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake."

Saturday, October 5, 2013

The Moment Of Death: 1. The heart stops. 2. The skin gets tight and ashen in color. 3. All the muscles relax. 4. The bladder and bowels empty. 5. The body temperature begins to drop 1 1/2 degrees Fahrenheit per hour.

After 30 minutes: 6. The skin gets purple and waxy. 7. The lips, fingernails, and toenails fade to a pale color. 8. Blood pools at the bottom of the body. 9. The hands and feet turn blue. 10. The eyes sink into the skull.

After 4 hours: 11. Rigor mortis has set in. 12. The purpling of the skin and the pooling of the blood continue. 13. Rigor continues to tighten muscles for another 24 hours or so.

After 12 hours: 14. The body is in full rigor mortis.

After 24 hours: 15. The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment. 16. In males, the semen dies. 17. The head and neck are now a greenish-blue color. 18. The greenish-blue color spreads to the rest of the body. 19. There is a pervasive smell of rotting meat.

After 3 days: 20. The gas in the body tissues forms large blisters on the skin. 21. The whole body begins to bloat and swell grotesquely. 22. Fluids leak from the mouth, nose, vagina, and rectum.

After 3 weeks: 23. The skin, hair, and nails are so loose they can easily be pulled off the corpse. 24. The skin bursts open on many places on the body. 25. Decomposition will continue until the body is nothing but skeletal remains, a process that can take a month or so in hot climates, and two months or more in cold climates.

Paranormal Horror Romance

Publishing Every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday (And sometimes in between!)

This blog is for every horror afficionado who enjoys watching horror movies, reading horror stories, and all the other mayhem associated with the genre.

Who I Am

Gail Smith is the pseudonym of Linda Mooney. Although I use my real name for my sci-fi, paranormal, and fantasy based romance novels and stories, I want to keep my excursions into writing horror separate. And I want readers to know that when the book says Gail Smith, they're going to get flat-out, unapologetic horror.